Such installations are known to be advantageous in cost savings, since hot-rolled strip continuously produced from cast stock uses considerably less energy as a consequence of the elimination of reheaters (of the slabs), intermediate transporters, and storage places present in traditional installations. Continuous casting installations are further advantageous in that they produce castings that are already in strips with a reduced cross section. This shape eliminates the high expense and greater energy required for deformation of larger shapes, as well as renders possible the winding of the continuous casting into coils directly after the continuous caster. This winding or coiling ability of the casting is utilized by the invention described below, since the maximum rate that a continuous casting can achieve as it leaves the continuous caster is much less than the lowest possible speed of rolling of traditional roll stands.
It was therefore proposed in basic German Patent No. 32 41 745 C2 that the continuous casting be wound into a coil (without a mandrel) in a furnace, that the coil be transferred, then unwound discontinuously and fed into a rolling mill. For the winding, a mandrel-less device is used, known as a "coil box." The coil box is used for winding the relatively thick, continuous castings.
However, such a prior art installation, i.e., with mandrel-less reeling stations arranged within the furnace, is unfavorable from a structural standpoint and is very expensive. Furthermore, mandrel-less winding can be considered reliable only when the continuous castings are relatively thick.